BuildingGreen Report

Blog Post

February 2, 2009

Last week I described why some environmentalists have shifted their position and now support nuclear power, and I described how we might be able to store nuclear waste more safely and cheaply than in the Yucca Mountain facility. So what's wrong with nuclear power? Why not move full-steam-ahead with this much more climate-friendly power... Read more

Blog Post

January 28, 2009
What's so funny about green building? Email me and let me know, or comment below. Here's my latest contribution to the genre of green building jokes: A LEED-certified building walks into a bar around closing time. It orders a drink, throws it back, and leaves. The next night, it comes in again, asks the bartender for a shot, throws it back,... Read more

Blog Post

January 27, 2009
The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), a Washington D.C. bicycle advocacy organization, along with America Bikes, the D.C. District Department of Transportation, and Dero Racks (they're listed in GreenSpec), provided free valet parking — for bicycles — at the presidential inauguration last week.

Cyclists were already in line before... Read more

Blog Post

January 26, 2009
The reactor at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vermont..

Continuing in the recent thread of examining various power generation technologies, this week I'll weigh in on nuclear power. I do this against my wife's better judgment, and perhaps out of concern that my columns haven't been generating enough controversy.

Let... Read more

Blog Post

January 26, 2009
The reactor at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vermont..

Continuing in the recent thread of examining various power generation technologies, this week I'll weigh in on nuclear power. I do this against my wife's better judgment, and perhaps out of concern that my columns haven't been generating enough controversy.

Let... Read more

Blog Post

January 23, 2009
The new home of the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT), also known as Eagle's Perch Campus, offers state-of-the-art learning spaces. NIVT aims to address community needs such as wellness, governance, and land and economic development. NVIT was designed to exceed the ASHRAE energy-efficiency standards by 35% by taking advantage of an... Read more

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January 23, 2009
The Friends Committee on National Legislation Headquarters is a small office building serving one of Washington, D.C.'s largest peace lobby organizations. The project--the renovation of and addition to a Civil War-era building on the National Register of Historic Places--was designed to promote Quaker ideals, including a mission to "seek an... Read more

Blog Post

January 23, 2009
Isn't lobbying in Washington something that less-reputable industries do -- tobacco, casinos, and other "heavy hitters"? Doing some research on OpenSecrets.org, I was interested to learn the extent to which the building materials and equipment industry engaged in lobbying in 2008. The industry paid lobbyists a total of $11,676,000, according to... Read more

Blog Post

January 22, 2009

Twice each month, BuildingGreen publishes an email news bulletin with current news and product information briefs. Sign up here — it's free. We will never share or sell your email address, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

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January 21, 2009
The ULS Report ("Use Less Stuff") started off as a primitive bimonthly web publication in 1994. Five years on, in 1999, it decreased frequency to quarterly. There were two last-gasp issues in 2000, and then it was dormant for 8 years. In 2008, a new issue came out, followed by another for the first quarter of this year. Page 4 of that phoenix-... Read more

Blog Post

January 20, 2009
The Midcoast Green Collaborative is a Maine-based public nonprofit with the wide mission of socially responsible economic growth for their region. There's also an associated good blog with a high percentage of building-based posts — lots of nice, accessible, generally bite-sized, hands-on observational science. One swell example begins, "Do you... Read more

Blog Post

January 20, 2009
I've traveled outside of North America only once in my life, and that was to Ireland in 2002. That was the year they switched from the Irish Pound to the Euro, and it was when they put a tax on plastic bags. We dopey tourists didn't know anything about that plastic bag thing before we got there. The deal, in theory, was this: If you wanted a... Read more

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January 19, 2009

In last week's column I examined a fairly unusual local power source: the Northfield Mountain pumped hydropower system, which is used for "storing" electricity--by pumping water uphill. This week we'll take a look at a very different power-generation system that's even closer to home: the landfill gas power plant at the Windham Solid... Read more

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January 13, 2009

whir... whir... whir.. whir... CLUNK! It finally worked... after decades of catching nothing but birds and bats, while making a small amount of electricity as a byproduct, the international effort to catch a UFO netted its first victim. A wind turbine in England lost one of its rotors last week in a nighttime incident with no clear cause, on... Read more

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January 12, 2009

Last weekend, looking for someplace new to explore, my wife and I drove down to Northfield, Massachusetts, to check out the cross-country ski center. The skiing was great, and it occurred to me that readers of this column might be interested in learning about the pumped-hydro power plant on the mountain--the ski center was created as... Read more

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January 7, 2009

Twice each month, BuildingGreen publishes an email news bulletin with current news and product information briefs. Sign up here — it's free. We will never share or sell your email address, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

Read the current bulletin

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January 5, 2009
CREE LR6 6" recessed downlight

Light-emitting diodes, better known as LEDs, are all around us--those little red or green indicator lights that blink at us from our stereo equipment, most new traffic signals, and virtually all new exit signs in commercial buildings. And if you've been to Times Square recently, you've seen way too many LEDs... Read more

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December 29, 2008
HID lighting at Fenway Park in Boston.

Three recent columns provided a brief history of lighting, an overview of fluorescent technology, and a look at the challenges of improving streetlights. Following a side trip into the issue of "passive survivability," I'm returning this week to illumination with an overview of high-intensity discharge (... Read more

Blog Post

December 29, 2008
7/1/09 Update: If you're looking to keep up to date on LEED 2009, I recommend checking out our own LEEDuser.com, which was recently launched Since the Green Building Certification Institute announced big changes to the LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) program (chronicled here), a few other key items have come out. First, the final date to... Read more

Blog Post

December 24, 2008
From the Father of Green Chemistry to that guy from This Old House, a couple dozen videos of speakers and presentations from Greenbuild '08 have been posted at Greenbuild 365, "USGBC's interactive green building learning portal." Among them, there's a very special episode in particular. You may have heard that our own Alex Wilson received a... Read more